James Delahunty
24 Jun 2011 22:21
VESA announces support for longer active cables for DisplayPort standard.
VESA - the Video Electronics Standards Association - announced an extension to the DisplayPort v1.2 standard to support active cables, which can be as much as five times longer than passive cables. To achieve the extra length, active cables boost and equalize the attenuated DisplayPort signal.
The change, VESA believes, will help enthusiasts building / upgrading home theater systems, which are often strained by the short length of High-definition video cables (particularly those that come free with consumer electronics products.)
With the addition of active cables to the DisplayPort standard, cables lengths of more than 100 feet (33 meters) are possible. Because active cables are directional and require each end to be connected to appropriate devices, VESA has developed a new DisplayPort active cable logo to assist cable users in identifying the source and sink ends of the cable.
"Active cables are an important connectivity option for DisplayPort users," said Gourgen Oganessyan, vice-chair of the VESA Marketing Task Group and staff product marketing engineer at Intersil Corporation.
"Active cables are increasingly being used in market segments ranging from industrial display and digital signage, to the home office. Through detailed compliance and test specifications, as well as our logo programs, VESA will ensure robust and consistent quality of these interconnects in the marketplace and interoperability with a wide variety of DisplayPort-enabled products."